Tag Archives: adoption

It looks as if Argentina might – unintentionally – lead the way with wide-spread adoption of BitCoins at the national level, which his good for everyone, honestly, except perhaps the government of Argentina.

With such wide-spread adoption of BitCoins in that country, though, comes some questions I have asked myself and the answer to which I find unsatisfactory: Why are BitCoins being so slow to be adopted by more industrialized nations? Are their economies so strong as to not allow for the wide-spread adoption (no need seen)? Or are there technological limitations? With Argentina leading the way, I think the answer is no on that too. I think the issue with BitCoins is that they are seen as a frynge currency system. Only for “geeks” and “hackers” and people familiar with computers. People don’t understand how to use them, how to get them, or where to use them. It’s all slowly changing, of course. Physical businesses all over the world are accepting BitCoins not just online but in store. With apps for smartphones, physical coins with a specific amount of coins ‘attached’ to them, and even pre-loaded credit/debit cards are paving the way for wide-spread adoption. Unfortunately the market for them still is grey and underworldly in terms of where they are used the most right now. Gambling, pornography, and other such sites readily accept the currency because of its ease of use and privacy features.

I read another article today, part one of an interview with Jeff Garzik and in which he (Jeff) mentioned one of the limitations of BitCoin as a payment and really probably the only thing that will have to be addressed to really see it launch: BitCoin is a push-pay system and not a pull-pay (like current credit and debit cards) system. What this means is that for a payment to be sent out, the buyer has to push the payment out over the network instead of providing an address from which payment can be pulled. I won’t speak on the technical hurdles that might keep us from seeing such a system implemented, I only mention it because I think it’s one of the few limitations that will keep us from really seeing this new currency take off.

Here at BitSale we’re not looking to really revolutionize too much, we’re just trying to get things rolling to make the transfer of coins for digital goods that much easier. What we see lacking aren’t technical limitations on the currency but limitations in the amount of places looking to provide what we provide, and that will just be the beginning.

If you believe in our vision and would like to see us succeed, feel free to leave a tip to help us along. Eventually we’ll get a tip jar to help you visualize how far along we are in making this a reality.